They may not be the biggest feature on your face, but boy are eyebrows a pair of powerful furry friends.

Pluck a few wrong hairs and you can turn your brows into a total disaster – trust me, been there, done that.

But regardless if you weren’t graced with the most stunning Cara Delevingne eyebrows, nothing is impossible in the beauty world these days, especially with the rise of semi-permanent eyebrow tattooing aka microblading.

The cosmetic procedure has become increasingly popular in the past couple of years, promising bolder brows while still maintaining a natural appearance. However (yes, there’s always a however), as great as it all sounds, there’s one massive issue that qualified technicians are coming across more often: botched microbladed brows.

Sharon Lee, owner of Sharon Lee Brows, has seen one too many ruined microblading jobs, with one in five of her clients being repair jobs.

“We do a lot of repair work who market themselves heavily but who are not qualified beauty therapists and so don’t have the in-depth knowledge of what can (and will) go wrong in different circumstances.”

“The many layers of the skin, sebaceous flow, age, elasticity, and much more all factor in.”

In particularly, Sharon says many repair jobs are from older clients who “aren’t media savvy and don’t do their research.”

However, regardless of your age or access to social media, there are five questions Sharon urges you to ask before anyone even touches your brows:

How long will it last?

What’s involved with refreshing by brows in so far as cost and time frame?

What if I feel my brows are fading within months of the service?

What can I expect within the week following the procedure?

How should I protect and maintain them?

Should I change my skincare routine in any way?

If you’re on the other hand of the spectrum where you’ve gone to get your furry friends shaped already, only to find that they’re not looking like they should, Sharon also has some advice for you.

What are the most common indications your brows haven’t being microbladed properly?

“Common issues are brows turning pink, or blue and green, which speaks to the pigment or ink used, but can also be indicative of low iron. If the brows lack detail it may be that your technician has gone too deep, and the pigment has blurred within the wrong layer of the skin.”

Can botched brows be fixed?

Luckily for majority of you, there is a ray of hope.

“In almost all cases, botched brows can be improved. However, if they’ve been truly hacked and done by machine, it is far more difficulty to rectify. It’s so important to tread carefully.”

“Have three sessions to build the line because two sessions is simply not enough to create real detail, finesse multiple colours, and layer the hair strokes at just the right angle to mimic real hair.”

Should my technician shape my brows according to the shape of my face?

No.

“It’s not just face shape. It’s age, skin type, texture and colour, hair colour, depth of features, and how you use your face ie. if you favour raising one brow more than the other.

“Your daily makeup habits come into the equation, too. For instance I prefer a more definitive brow on someone who wears next to no makeup, while with an older client, we want to keep the brows softer just as for a teen we don’t wax as we want them to still look their age.’

For more information on Sharon Lee, visit her site here, or follow her on Instagram @sharonleeinc.